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MLB Analysis: Examining the Kansas City Royals' 2013 Schedule

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September 18, 2012

September 18, 2012
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2013 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for baseball. The Houston Astros will be making the transition from the over-crowded six-team NL Central to the now-powerful AL West. The move creates two even leagues at 15 teams apiece, five teams per division. The “realignment”, as minimal as it seems, has altered the way the baseball schedule will look from here on out.

Before 2013, interleague play was genereally held from late-May through mid-June and wouldn’t happen again until the World Series.

But starting next season, interleague play is going to take place on practically every single day of the season, April through September.

With the increased interleague play (20 games per team) comes increased divisional play as well. Teams will square-up against each of their divisional foes 19 times apiece (76 games). The remaining 66 games will be divvied out amongst league opponents – playing each team once at home and once on the road.

The interleague divisional partner for the AL Central will be the NL East.

The Royals will open the 2013 season with a series against the Chicago White Sox (April 1, 3-4) before traveling to Philadelphia for a three game series against the Phils. Their home opener will take place on April 8th with a three-game series against the Twins.

Schedule highlights:

May 27-30: The I-70 Series will take place when the Royals and Cardinals line-up against one another for four consecutive days. The catch? The first two games will take place at The K. The latter two at Busch.

This is a new idea that the league is trying where each team will face their “interleague rival” for four straight days in each team’s respective ballpark.

June 25-26: The Braves (in Atlanta since 1966) will make their first trip to Kansas City (the Royals since 1969) in franchise history, pitting GM Dayton Moore and his on-field product against his former employers.

July 26-28 @ Chicago Cubs; July 30-August 1 @ Minnesota; August 2-4 @ New York Mets

The Royals’ trip to Queens will be their first visit to Citi Field – the host of the 2013 All-Star game.

August 23-25: Bryce Harper will make his second trip to Kansas City – his first being this past All-Star game. The then 20-year old will be sure to draw big numbers to The K for that three-game series. Oh yeah, they’ll probably have that Stephen Strasbug guy too. Hopefully the Nats won’t shut him down before then.

The Royals’ regular season home schedule concludes on September 22nd against he Texas Rangers. The regular season itself will end for KC on September 29th when they travel to Chicago (where they’ll start the season) for a four-game series against the White Sox.